Rail grinder for electric butt-weld joints



Nov. 24

W HOBSON.

RAIL GRINDER FOR ELECTRIC BUTT WELD JOINTS FiledSept. 1, 1921 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Nov. 24 y 1925.

w. Ho'BsoN RAIL GRINDER FOR ELECTRIC BUTT WELD JOINTS 5 sheets -sheet 2 ed Sept. 1, 1921 Nov. 24 1925 1,562,558

- w. HoBsoN jam; GRINDER FOR ELECTRIC, sum wsw JOINTS s Sheets-Sheet s J n 1 I r um" I 3 Patented Nov. 24, 1925.

UNITED STATES WALTER HOBSON, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

RAIL GRINDER FOR ELECTRIC BUTT-HELD JGINTS.

Appiication filed September 1 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WALTER HoBsoN, a citizen of the-United States, residing at Frankford, Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a certain new and useful Rail Grinder for Electric Butt-WVeld Joints, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to grinders intended to grind the surface of rails, usually at the joints.

The main purpose of my invention is to provide a grinder which will grind different contours of rail, following curved contours as well as those that are straight.

A. further purpose of my invention is to support the grinder upon wheels which act as guides, supports and limiting rollers and which preferably both precede and follow the grinding wheel in its movement along the track.

A further purpose is to mount a rail grinding mechanism upon a frame movable transversely to the track and to give the mechanism or the frame articulations which permit the grinding wheel to follow any part of the exposed rail surface.

A further purpose is to swing a transversely movable grinding frame about an axis at a distance laterally from the grinding wheel and also to give the wheel a swinging motion about an axis generally above the rail and which preferably passes below the axis of the grinding wheel.

A further purpose is to afford quick and reliable clamping means for holding a grinder in set position.

Further purposes will appear in the specification and in the claims.

I prefer to illustrate my invention by one main form only, with a single modification of the clamp used, selecting a form which has proved to be practical, highly efiicient, reliable and in a broad sense inexpensive, and which at the same time well illustrates the principles of my invention.

Figure l is a side elevation of the preferred form of my invention in position upon a street car rail.

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the structure seen in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a section through a rail with an end elevation of my invention in grinding position.

Figures at and 5 are sections taken upon the line i t of the construction in Figure 1, 1921. Serial No. 497,599.

1, showing the grinder in different angular positions.

Figures 6 and 7 are fragmentary sections taken upon lines 66 and 7-7 of Figure 2.

Figure 8 is a fragmentary top plan view corresponding with one end of Figure 2 showing an electromagnetic clamp.

Figure 9 is a fragmenatry section taken upon line 9-9 of Figure 8.

In the drawings similar numerals indicate like parts.

The grinders which have proved practical enough to go into general use have depended, as regards the depth of their grinding contact with the rails, upon special guides mounted upon. the grinder frame and which must be set in parallelism with the track. They have not been suited to follow curved rail contours and have been restricted to the flat Wheel surfaces common in street car rails. I have endeavored to overcome the objections to such forms by using the rail itself as a guide for swinging grinding mechanism, including rollers which are guided by the rail, about an axis to cause the grinding wheel to follow the contour of the rail. In this use the guiding rollers limit the depth of grinding movement of the Wheel.

In accordance with the statute I disclose herein the best form of my invention known to me, but by way of illustration only, and not in limitation, since I know that various other embodiments would well carry out the principles of my invention.

The grinder in its entirety must, of course, be clamped in position and I have provided clamps for this purpose which are quite desirable because the device can be secured to one rail of the track without necessity for extension to ride or rest upon the other rail of the track for support.

In my preferred form, shown in Figures 145, the laterally extending ends 9 of the device are united by a longitudinal brace 10 to form a rigid foundation upon which the rest of the structure is mounted. The ends extend, preferably from the inside of the track, beyond the head 11 of the rail 12.

This rail is shown as of girder type merely because this is the type of rail generally used upon street railways. My invention is applicable to any type of rail with such changes in the shape of the clamps as are required by the difference in contour of the rail, and my grinder will follow the contour of the rails usual in steam roads as well as the contours of all forms of street car rails.

Vith the rail shown, the toes of the clamps are in the form of ribs or flanges 18 extending along the rail and fitting into the groove 14, in preference to fitting against the edge of the rail, partly because the variation in width of the rail head from the edge of the recess 14 to the edge 16 is less than the variation in over-all width of the rail and partly because the ribs may be bottomed in the groove to act as fulcrums. However theclamp and fulcrum against the edge could both be obtained with the other form and in either event, the clamps can be secured quickly and effectively to the rail tightening by means of screws 17 abutting against the edge 16 and acting with the ribs 13 to form a C-clainp. The ends of the clamps at which the screws 17 are located are made in the form of hooks 18 which are passed over the edge of the rail before the ribs 13 are placed.

The sides and clamps are strengthened by ribs 19 which form parts of bosses 20 within which the screws 17 fit.

As will be seen the extension of the sides and their support of the grinding mechanism at the left in Figure 3, tend to force the ribs 13 down into the groove 1st and also, acting about these ribs as levers, force the hooks 18 tightly against the under side of the rail edge. The weight is then taken by the rail and the clamps take up lost motion across the rail and make the connection rigid.

At the ends of the clamps farthest from the rail, I form housingsQl, providing slots 22 within which a shaft 28 is moved horizontally by means of hand wheels 2 and gears 25 engaging in racks 26; with the purpose and effect of making the shaft 23 adjustable laterally of the track while maintaining it in positions of parallelism so that it may act as a longitudinal guide for a swinging frame 27 hinged upon the shaft or rod.

The frame is made up conveniently of a U-shaped strip 28 having threaded eyes 29 at opposite ends of the 'U for the tilting mechanism carrying the grinding wheel, and straps 30 at the corners of the U surrounding the shaft 23. The straps are effective to hinge the frame to the shaft.

As a result, the framev may be moved bodily, transversely by moving the shaft 23 and longitudinally and may be swung angularl'y about the shaft to raise or lower the mechanism carried by it.

The ends of this swinging frame encircle bolts 31 whose outer ends are screwed into the threaded 'eyes 29 and whose inner ends 32 have bearings within blocks in the ends of a grinder carriage 3%.

by sliding it along this shaft,

The grinder carriage is made up of two duplicate longitudinally extending side plates 35 and 36 which are clamped together by bolts 37 and 38. The bolts pass through the blocks and hold them in position, both by this passage through them and by clamping the side members 35 and 36 against them. The side plates together form a yoke which is effective, so far as rigidity is concerned, as if integral and whose parts are at the same time separable to permit placing of the grinding wheel and the guiding and supporting rollers.

The spacing provided by the yoke at 39 accommodates a grinding wheel d0 with its shaft 41 and supporting flanges 1-2, 12. For structural purposes one of these -flanges is seated against a collar ii-3, integral with the shaft, and the other is secured by a collar 13, screwed upon the shaft.

The shaft i1 is driven by a shaft 44. flexibly connected at with any motor not shown preferably an electric motor where the construction is used for grinding the joints of street railway rails.

The shaft ll has bearings in blocks a6 vertically movable in housings a7. These blocks are raised and lowered in these housings by means of screws &8 threaded through the boxes and prevented from axial movement by collars 49, 4:9. The screws are turned by hand wheels 50. I prefer to place the oil-center blocks and housings upon different sides of the shaft as best seen in Figure 2.

In order to control the cutting depth and path of travel of the grinding wheel d0 by the contours of the corresponding adjacent rail ends I place limiting and guiding rollers 51, 51 one in line in front of and the other in line behind the grinding wheel and of the same effective width of face as that of the grinding wheel, so that, in whatever direction the grinding wheel may be moved, longitudinally, transversely, vertically or angularly with respect to the rail, the wheels 51, 51 will have the same relative position and direction of inclination with respect to a corresponding rail contour and will maintain the same relation to the grinding wheel, permitting the frame to be moved and the grinding wheel to be turned within its bearings to any angle while always presenting the same relation between the faces of the guiding wheels 51, 51 and the grinding wheel.

Where the meeting rails are exactly matched, as regards any particular contour being ground, the grinder will exactly match this contour at the joint being ground; and when the corresponding contours of the meeting ends are not the same, since one wheel 51 or 51 rests upon the one rail and the other wheel upon the other rail, the grinding wheel will cut a joint between to an average, following neither exactly but yielding a mean or composite of the two,

The wheels 51, 51 are mounted between the plates by fitting the shafts 52 of the wheels into bearings 53 in the members 35 and 36 as the parts are assembled.

.The grinder yoke is fitted with handles 5-l at opposite ends so that it can be operated with equal convenience from either end or by two operators, one at each end, and can be set for operation upon either rail with equal convenience.

In operation the clamps are applied to the rail at the point where the grinding is to be effected and the position of the shaft 23 is adjusted to bring the grinding wheel and guiding and supporting wheels 51 into the proper position. The grinding wheel is low red until its grinding plane lies within the plane defined by the bottom faces of the rollers 51, 51. The yoke carrying the grinding, guiding and supporting wheels is then moved backward and forward by hand to bring the grinding wheel into engagement with the parts to be ground. To reach new contours the shaft 23 is moved to move the entire frame, the frame is swung to; give different heights of the grinding wheel and the angle at which the wheel is directed is changed by swinging the yoke, as may be desired to cover the complete surface to be ground.

Though I have shown the grinding wheel as applied to grinding off the burr or bea d 55 formed about a welded rail joint by reason of the welding operation, it will, of

course, be evident that my invention is not in any way restricted to the grinding of the joints between adjoining rails or to grinding parts of girder rails, but is appli cable generally to all the exposed surfaces of rails where the grinding may be desired.

It will be evident further that different shapes of clamp may be applied to suit different shapes of rail heads where it is desired to have the clamp follow the contour of the head.

Because it is diiiicult in some city streets to get at the edges of the rail heads to set clamps which are intended to hook under the edge or which require any considerable extension below the edge, I have illustrated another form of clamp in Figures 8 and 9 depending upon an electromagnet to prevent vertical movement of the clamp and having a clamping edge to engage with one edge of the rail. In this form the clamp is adapted to engage at 18 with the edge 16 of the rail and a steadying rib 3 is adapted to fit into the groove 1% of the rail, but the clamp is held down by core 56 of an electromagnet which is set into the clamp 10. The magnet energized by a winding is? receiving current through supply wires 58, 50.

From my description herein, various other constructions will be evident to those skilled in the art, b which a part at least of the advantage 0' my invention my be secured without direct copying, and it is my inten tion to include herein all such changes and modifications of my invention as come with in its reasonable spirit and scope.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In a rail grinder, clamping means for securing the grinder to a rail, a guide eX- tending longitudinally of the grinder and about which the grinding mechanism is adapted to swing, an adjustment for moving the mechanism laterally with respect to the rail, a frame swinging with respect to the guide, a grinding wheel carried by the frame and whose axis of rotation is adapted to rock and a supporting wheel adapted to rest upon the rail maintained in axial parallelism with the grinding wheel and determining the depth to which the grinding wheel grinds.

2. In a. rail grinder, clamping means for securing the grinder to a rail, a guide ex tending longitudinally of the grinder and about which the grinding mechanism is adapted to swing, an adjustment for moving the guide laterally with respect to the rail, a frame adapted to swing with respect to the guide, support for a grinding wheel swinging in the frame to tilt the axis of the wheel axially and a grinding wheel carried by the support.

3. In a rail grinder, clamping means for securing the grinder to a rail, a guide extending longitudinally of the grinder and about which the grinding mechanism is adapted to swing, an adjustment for moving the guide laterally with respect to the rail, a frame adapted to swing upon the guide, a support for a grinding wheel swinging in the frame to tilt the axis of rotation of the wheel. angular-1y, a grinding wheel carried by the support, and guide wheels for the grinding wheel adapted to ride on the rail, to tilt with the wheel and to determine the grinding depth of the grinding wheel.

4:. In arail grinder, clamping means for securing the grinder to a rail, a guide are tending longitudinally of the grinder and with respect to which the grinding mechanism is adapted to swing, an adjustment for moving the guide laterally with respect to the rail, a frame adapted to swing upon the guide, a yoke carried by the frame and turning with respect to the frame, a grinding wheel carried by the yoke and a rest for the yoke determining its height above the rail.

5. In a rail grinder, clamping means for securing the grinder to a rail, a guide extending longitudinally of the grinder and with respect to which the grinding mechatie nism is adapted to swing, an adjustment for moving the guide laterally with respect to the rail, a frame adapted to swing with respect to the guide, a yoke carried by the frame adapted to turn with respect to. the frame, a grinding wheel carried by the yoke, a rest for the yoke determinlng its height above the rail, and adjusting means for determining the height of the grinding wheel with respect to the rest.

6. In a rail grinder, clamping means for securing the grinder to a rail, a guide extending longitudinally of the grinder, an adjustment for moving the guide laterally with respect to the rail, a yoke movable lon gitudinally upon said guide and adapted to swing it with respect to a grinding wheel arried by said frame, and guiding andsupporting wheels carried by the frame in front of and behind the grinding wheel to determine the depth of the grinding wheel in grinding the rail.

7. In a rail grinder, clamping means for securing the grinder to a rail, a guide extending longitudinally of the grinder, an adjustment for moving the guide laterally with respect to the rail, a frame adapted to move along the guide and swing with respect to it, a support carried by the frame, a grinding wheel in said support, guiding and supporting wheels carried by the support in front of and behind the grinding wheel and means for pivoting the support to swing the grinding and guiding wheels together to conform to the contour of the rail part being ground.

8. In a rail grinder, clamping means for securing the grinder to a rail, a guide extending longitudinally of the grinder, an adjustment for moving the guide laterally with respect to the rail, a frame swinging and movable longitudinally with respect to the guide and guiding and grinding wheels swinging together with respect to the frame about an axis parallel to but spaced from the guide and carried by frame.

9. In a rail grinder, clamping means for securing the grinder to a rail, a guide extending longitudinally of the grinder, an adjustment for moving the guide laterally with respect to the rail, a frame connected with the guide to swing at one-end with respect to it. means for supporting the other end of the frame upon the rail, and supports for the grinding wheel riding on the rail and moving lengthwise of the rail with the wheel.

10. In a rail grinder, clamping means for securing the grinder to a rail, aguide extending longitudinally of the grinder, an adjustment for moving the guide laterally with respect to the rail, a frame movable about the guide and a grinding wheel carried by the frame adapted to swing angularly with respect to the guide to apply the face of the grinding wheel at different angles with respect to the rail.

11. In a rail grinding mechanism, a guide adapted to be fixed parallel to the rail length, a grinding wheel guided longitudinally thereby and mounted so that its axis swings about an axis parallel to the guide and at a distance from it, and support for the grinding wheel travelling upon the surface of the rail and swinging with the wheel.

12. In a rail grinding mechanism, a clamp con'iprisinga pair of C-clamps adapted to engage with a slot in therail, beneath the edge of the rail and against the edges of the rail respectively and a grinding mechanism carried by said clamps and operative between them.

13. In a rail grinding mechanism, a guide fixed parallel to the length of a rail, a grinding wheel and supporting wheels having their axes maintained in the same relation to each other and together movable along the length of the guideand swinging about an axis parallel to and spaced from the guide, and means for rotating the grinding wheel.

14. In a rail grinding mechanism, a grinding wheel and two supporting wheels, one ahead of and the other behind the grinding wheel and comprising a unit, a guide, a frame movable along the guide and pivotal support for the unit from the frame at a distance from the guide.

15. In a rail grinding mechanism, supporting means, a guide carried thereby, a frame adapted to move along and swing laterally with respect to. but not about said guide, a grinding wheel carried by said frame, and roller guiding mechanism adapted to roll upon the rail and preventing excessive grinding by the wheel.

16. In a rail grinding mechanism, a guide, supports therefor from the rail, a wheel bracket movable longitudinally and angular-1y with respect to the guide, a wheel carried by the frame, and guiding and sup porting wheels in front of and behind the grinding wheel determining the extent of grinding of said wheel.

17. In a rail grinding mechanism, a

guide, supports therefor from the rail, a wheel bracket movable longitudinally and angularly with respect to the guide, a wheel carried by the frame about an axis at a distance from the guide, adapted to swing with respect to the frame and guiding and supporting wheels in line with the grinding wheel, swinging with it and determining the extent of grinding of said wheel.

18. In a rail grinding mechanism, a guide, supports therefor from the rail, a wheel bracket movable longitudinally and angularly with respect to the guide and a grinding wheel and supporting roller carried by the frame, adapted to swing together about an axis parallel to but spaced from the guide to maintain their faces in parallelism as their angular relation with respect to the rail alters.

19. In a rail grinding mechanism, a guide supported from the rail and adjustable toward and from the rail, a frame adj ustable longitudinally and angularly with respect to the guide, a grinding wheel adapted to swing in said frame in planes parallel to its axis, and roller supports for said frame engaging the rail and swinging with the grinding wheel.

20. In a rail grinding mechanism, a guide supported from the rail and adjustable toward and from the rail, a frame adjustable longitudinally and angularly with respect to the guide, a grinding wheel adapted to swing in said frame, roller sup ports for said frame engaging the rail and swinging with the grinding wheel, and vertical adjustment for the grinding wheel to maintain it in predetermined position with respect to the roller supports.

21. In a rail grinding mechanism, clamps adapted to engage with the rail, a rotatable guide connected between the clamps, cooperating gears and racks between the guide and clamp members to adjust the guide laterally with respect to the rail, a frame swinging with respect to the guide and movable along it, a yoke supported to swing in said frame, a grinding wheel carried by the yoke, and rollers having their lower faces in a plane with the lower face of the grinding wheel, carried by the yoke and adapted to swing with the grinding wheel to follow different contours of the rail.

:22. In a rail joint grinding mechanism, a grinding wheel guided generally parallel.

with the lengths of the rails and spaced supports for the wheel movable along the rails with the wheel, spaced by it and resting upon the rails at opposite sides of the joint to give a compromise contour to the path of the grinding wheel where the contours traversed by the supports differ.

23. In a rail joint grinding mechanism, a grinding wheel, driving mechanism therefor, a guide for the wheel generally parallel with the lengths of the rails, supports for the wheel, resting upon the rails at opposite sides of the joint and spaced by the wheel and common means for mounting the grind ing wheel and supports, causing the supports to guide the grinding wheel by the contours of the rail sections to produce a compromise contour where the contours traversed by the guides differ.

9A. In a rail joint grinding mechanism, a grinding wheel and two guiding wheels spaced by the grinding wheel, in combination with common mounting mechanism therefor, providing longitudinal and swinging movements for the three wheels together, whereby the guiding wheels follow the contours of the rails upon which they rest to define the contour traversed by the grinding wheel and to give the latter a compromise contour where the contours traversed by the guiding wheels differ.

233. In a rail joint grinding mechanism, a grinding wheel and two guides spaced by the grinding wheel and adapted to rest on the rails in front of and behind the grinding wheel, in combination with articulated mounting mechanism common to all three wheels permitting movements of said wheels in common longitudinally and trans versely of the lengths of the rails and swing ing movement in common and providing a contour of movement of the grinding wheel corresponding to that of the guiding wheels and a compromise contour between them where the contours traversed by the guid ing wheels differ.

WALTER 'HOBSON. 

